wfn.org | LCMS Synod asks colleges, universities to teach in a multicultural world

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The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services
1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122-7295

61st Regular Convention St. Louis, Mo. July 14-20, 2001

July 19, 2001 #39

Contact: Bruce Kueck (314) 342-5715

Synod asks colleges, universities to teach in a multicultural world

ST. LOUIS -- The 61st Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri 
Synod (LCMS) has asked its institutions of higher learning to prepare the 
church s leaders for work in "a multicultural world."

The action was taken July 19 as the delegates met in the America s Center 
in downtown St. Louis. The convention ends Friday, July 20.

Convention delegates directed the LCMS Board for Higher Education to urge 
the church s colleges, universities and seminaries to make it a priority 
"to provide academic offerings in the language and history of the various 
cultures of the world for the purpose of extending the mission of Jesus 
Christ."

The convention resolution said education in the Synod s colleges, 
universities and seminaries responds to the Biblical direction of Jesus 
Christ "to prepare disciples to extend Christ s kingdom to every continent 
of the world."

The action asked the Synod s Concordia University System to train church 
workers "to understand and teach Spanish, as well as other languages." The 
convention resolution noted the growing use of Spanish in the United States.

In presenting the motion, the Rev. Ronald L. Bergen, president of the LCMS 
Ohio District, told the convention that Spanish and Hispanic cultures are 
only examples of what can be taught. "We live in a multicultural world 
today called the United States, " he said.

Delegates decided also that the members it elects to the Boards of Regents 
of LCMS colleges and universities may serve up to three consecutive 
three-year terms -- a maximum of nine years. The measure returns the boards 
to the same procedure used prior to 1998.

The Synod s 1998 convention decided the members it elects to the Boards of 
Regents could serve up to two consecutive six-year terms -- a maximum of 12 
years at a time. Members of the Synod s two seminary boards serve such terms.

The Synod convention does not elect all regents. The Synod is organized 
into 35 districts, and the local districts elect some regents. The regents 
also name some regents. The terms of regents not elected in Synod 
convention did not change in 1998, so different regents on the same board 
operate under different rules for number and length of terms.

Synod conventions, which meet every three years, elect seminary board 
members. Their number and length of terms was set to ensure continuity on 
those boards.

Continuity among college and university regents is ensured by regents being 
elected in different years by different bodies.

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